I've shut down dealerships trying to screw my SO over numerous times. I recently tried to have some work done on my Jeep and all the places in the area refused to do it because they couldn't pawn off bull shite charges on me. The first two places tried and I busted them because there is nothing on my Jeep I haven't taken apart. I told them a specialty item I wanted in and exactly how I wanted it. They won't even return my calls now because they don't know how to do it. So I'm having to auto transport my ride from Utah back to Colorado. Even with the transport costs it will be close to $1,000 less to do the work my self.

If its s late nodel car your issue is almost certaintly the number three coil.

This.

quote:Just change it and be done with it.

Depending on the mileage of the vehicle, I would change the plugs and wires, too.

I have a coil-on-plug set up and I had an issue with my coil arching to the head cover. The boots or insulation around the plug wire can get brittle and crack and there is the possibility of arching occurring.

Luckily, my coil wasn't very expensive. It only took me 5 minutes to change out and everything runs fine.

I read on Jeepforum where a guy took his jeep into pepboys to get an oil change. Mechanic took his jeep out for a ride and ended up wrecking it behind a walmart. he was able to get the camera footage of the mech hitting a telephone pole. mechanic was doing donuts

quote:Now does the guy charging $119 know how to take advantage of that equipment?

If he wants to make his money back on that Scan tool he damn well better learn EVERYTHING about it, otherwise the idiot shelled out a bunch of money for a very powerful piece of diagnostic equipment that he will never fully utilize.

quote:I read on Jeepforum where a guy took his jeep into pepboys to get an oil change. Mechanic took his jeep out for a ride and ended up wrecking it behind a walmart. he was able to get the camera footage of the mech hitting a telephone pole. mechanic was doing donuts

It's not easy to get people to work on a Jeep. Most Jeep owners do much of their own work. When you spend many hours under your vehicle, it makes it hard for a mechanic to pawn off bull shite repair charges.

My transfer case went out because Big O tires left my lower control arm bolts loose after an alignment. It stressed the front of my t-case and the t-case actually broke in half. Since I was replacing it I tried to get quotes on an Atlas 2 speed 5:1 t-case and nobody in Utah would even entertain me because they couldn't mark it up. The one place that gave me a quote tried telling me I needed a new rear drive line which I absolutely knew was false because I have a new Tom Woods drive line and I made sure it was not damaged when the t-case went bad.

They then tried to overcharge me for a new front drive line and steering links even though I specifically told them I had a new Dana 44 front axle and custom Tom Woods front driveline sitting in my shop.

Naturally, the bad apples in the industry get 1000x more pub than the people who show up to work everyday and do their damnedest to put in an honest days work.

I'm going through an auto tech program at the local community college and I hear shite all the time about the right and wrong way to do things.

Sometimes the right way involves suggesting that the customer replace some things that they hadn't anticipated when they brought their vehicle in. Part of being a good mechanic is recommending everything that you can to the customer in order to ensure that they don't come back into your shop all pissed off because you didn't fix something that you should have while you were in there the first time.

Example: The customer comes in and wants their water pump replaced. You recommend that they also replace the timing belt, gaskets and pulleys while you are in there even though it will cost more than just replacing the pump. If they decline then they can't come back and blame you when their timing belt breaks and wrecks their engine.

I only get alignments and programming done a t a mechanic. Everything else I did myself. Youtube taught me how to rebuild transmissions.

Some things YOU HAVE to have a shop for. Or at least a press and machine equipment. Like I hone cylinder, and will do intake mods with a rasp. But every time I do headwork, or need to mate two surfaces of different allows I got a small machine shop in Harahan I like to use.

Though what BThog said is true, the newer cars get harder to work on.

About to try and install a 2000 740 engine chassis and electronics on to a classic car(summer project, have to strip BMW first and teach myself how to rebuild the engine. (though putting a powerstroke Diesel in a 65' Continental is my real dream project, my garage just isn't long enough for one.

I had a friend put a LS400 into a '66 Mustang and it came out really cool. It's a very long term project. I'm figuring 2 years of weekends. But it'll be fun.

quote:Sometimes the right way involves suggesting that the customer replace some things that they hadn't anticipated when they brought their vehicle in. Part of being a good mechanic is recommending everything that you can to the customer in order to ensure that they don't come back into your shop all pissed off because you didn't fix something that you should have while you were in there the first time.

Not a mechanic, but an Appliance technician, and I feel your pain. People hate when you tell them it's more than anticipated, or that you had to make one repair, just to get the system to where you could even diagnose it.